Dano's Chimney Sweep

unknown

I called twice and left a message but he never returned my calls.

After living in this house for about four years, I decided I wanted to use the woodburning stove in the living room. I had no idea if the chimney had ever been cleaned before we bought the house, and also wasn't sure how to use the stove itself. Around this same time, I noticed a water stain high up on the vaulted ceiling, where the chimney pipe went through the ceiling. A few years before this I had noticed Dano's advertisement on his truck driving around town, and had written down the name and phone number, so I found the note where I had written that, and gave him a call. We set up an appointment, and I was very pleased that he arrived on time, was very friendly, and seemed to know what he was doing. I did not accompany him up onto the roof, but when he told me what was wrong, it made sense, and explained why I was having a leak up there. He didn't have the correct kind of cap and pipe to fix the problem right then, but he came back about a week later (as we had agreed) and installed the new stuff, cleaned out the stove and the chimney pipes, and showed me how to use the stove. It's been two years now, so I don't remember the exact price, but I do remember that I was happy with the work he had done, and remember that he was friendly and professional. And I would definitely call him again for any problem related to chimneys.

I needed the chimney cleaned and certified for our house to go on the market (hadn't used in years) and called Dano's. I was informed that he wouldn't clean or certify the fireplace for use (woodburning) since there was rust on the insert. He charged me $138.95 for this. He said he would come back with a scope to look and see where the water causing the rust may be coming from. He also added that I likely needed to removed the entire fireplace, change the facing, etc. While waiting for the next appointment, I called for another opinion from another chimney sweep in town. The second chimney sweep was a little shocked that my fireplace wouldn't be certified since it is an iron insert with only slight bit of surface rusting, which he said would never be a problem and constitutes no risk. He said it looked likely that the rust was due to the type of cap since extreme rain that was horizontal could leak in a bit. He cleaned my chimney and certified it for wood burning, and at the same time, called a colleague who works with this type of insert to make sure he hadn't missed anything. The third colleague came (for free) and agreed that the fireplace was in great shape and was flabbergasted that I would be told it couldn't be certified and I should think of replacing it. By the way, the second chimney sweep who actually cleaned and certified my chimney has worked for the fire department for over a decade, and he doesn't stand to benefit financially if my fireplace needed replacing. Wish I could say the same for Dano's. I would never recommend this company and warn that any opinion of theirs that includes thousands of dollars of work should be double checked.